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Sunday, November 22, 2015

Borussia
Mönchengladbach and Dynamo Kiev were paired in the Semifinals of the 1976/77
Champions Cup.

The
West German powerhouse Borussia Mönchengladbach, managed by the former Bayern
Munich Boss Udo Latteck, were then of the best squads in Europe and were on
their way in clinching their Third straight Bundesliga Title (their fifth in
eight seasons).

The
squad was led by Berti Vogts, The Terrier, and contained Danish superstar Allan
Simonsen, as well West German Internationals such as Uli Stielike, Rainer
Bonhof and Wimmer.

The
Soviets of Dynamo Kiev were led by the legendary and revolutionary Valeri
Lobanovsky who would go on and train future generations of Dynamo Kiev squads
in the next two decades, as well as the USSR national team.

The
team’s star was Oleg Blokhin the 1975 Ballon d’Or winner.

The
team contained virtually all Internationals, such as Burjak, Konkov, Muntyan
and Onischenko.

They
had qualified from their opening Rounds by defeating Yugoslvia’s Partizan
Belgrade (3-0, 2-0) and Greece’s PAOK (4-0, 2-0).

In
the Quarterfinals, they had eliminated West Germany’s Bayern Munich of Franz
Beckenbauer (0-1, 2-0). The defending Champions Bayern had won the trophy for
three consecutive years.

The
first leg, on April 6th, was played at Kiev’s Central Stadium.

The
collective game of Kiev, though successful in the recent years, was now being
criticized as too predictable.

The
focus of attention was the duel between Blokhin and Vogts.

Kiev
needing to win at home, attacked from the start. But despite dominating, they
did not actually create many clear-cut chances.